1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of biofeedback. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for encouraging physiologic (also known as physiological) self-regulation based on visual, auditory, and/or tactile feedback of measured and processed physiologic data.
The system and method of the invention enables biofeedback or neurofeedback (a type of biofeedback) to be carried out during normal everyday tasks such as, by way of example and not limitation, reading, listening to instructions, watching a movie, driving a vehicle, and involvement in sports activities. This is accomplished by using a wearable device that does not interfere with the everyday activities and that does not require a secondary feedback device, such as an external computer display, to provide the stimulation that prompts the physiologic response. According to the present invention, the stimulation that prompts the initial physiologic response is provided by the user's or subject's environment, and the physiologic response-based feedback is used to modify the environmental stimulus, for example by restricting or modifying the user's view of the environment. Additional visual, aural, or tactile feedback may be provided but the primary stimulus is the user's natural or ordinary environment and not a manufactured stimulus such as a game program or other stimulus providing computer display.
The physiologic data may include, again by way of example and not limitation, data relating to heart rate, galvanic-skin response, body temperature, blood pressure, electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), or any other normally-involuntary physiologic function or measure that a user can be taught to consciously control in response biofeedback or neurofeedback.
In a preferred embodiment, the biofeedback modulates the amount of light passing through the wearable device, thereby changing the user's view of his or her environment. In addition, the system and method of the invention may utilize complimental tactile feedback, which may take the form of vibrations, and/or aural feedback. However, the invention is not limited to modulation of the amount of light passing through the wearable device as the primary stimulus, but rather encompasses any effects that inhibit or change the way the user senses his or her environment, such as brightness tinting, blocking, fuzzing, fading, muting, or overlaying of external visual, auditory, or tactile feedback.
2. Description of Related Art
The terms biofeedback and neurofeedback refer to techniques and in which an individual learns to consciously control involuntary responses such as heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves, anxiety, and muscle tension with the help of man-machine interfaces such as computer screens and/or other devices that generate visual, auditory, and/or tactile feedback of the physiologic data and thereby provide information concerning the involuntary response that the individual would normally be unable to consciously detect in the absence of the man-machine interface.
In conventional biofeedback and neurofeedback systems, the information concerning the involuntary response, or normally unconscious physiologic processes, is conveyed back to the individual in the form of auditory and/or visual indicators such as beeps or graphs displayed on computer screen.
Biofeedback or neurofeedback systems can be used for a number of applications, such as to treat developmental and behavioral disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities, cognitive effects of aging and other cognitive disorders. People with these disorders have severe difficulty efficiently processing information, controlling body impulses, focusing, and maintaining attention. Characteristically, those suffering from these disorders can display inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and hyperactivity. These disorders often lead to learning and behavior problems at home, school or work. Generally, biofeedback systems can be used to address cognitive processing disorder, learning disability, anxiety, depression, mild closed head injury and cognitive effects of aging and the like as these can respond favorably to treatment using biofeedback and, more specifically, neurofeedback.
Treatments for such disorders currently employ a variety of methods, including the use of medication, behavioral therapy, audio-visual entrainment, cerebella function stimulation and brainwave biofeedback training, to reduce the symptoms. Biofeedback and neurofeedback training uses machines to measure and display body functions and states such as heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature, muscle tension, brain activity, electroencephalograph (EEG), electromyograph (EMG), and skin conductance. The patient can monitor these body functions and see how and why the body functions change through stages of high and low degrees of activity, with the goal that the patient eventually learns to self-regulate and control those body functions.
Biofeedback and neurofeedback training allows the patient to monitor and improve his/her physiology by observing the machine that measures and displays their body functions, making the patient aware of the activities which promote improvement, thus reinforcing the patient's ability to self-regulate and control the body functions. This is especially critical in today's technologically advanced work environments, where increased stress, high demand for multitasking, lack of awareness, poor attention and the cognitive effects of aging greatly influence productivity and errors in work performance. However, conventional biofeedback and neurofeedback training are conventionally conducted in a clinical setting or in front of a specially equipped personal computer system, rather than in a work environment or other setting under conditions that trigger behavioral or physiologic conditions that need to be corrected.
Although traditional biofeedback and neurofeedback systems and methods influence changes in physiology to improve inefficient behaviors, there is little opportunity to use the self-regulation training in an environment in which the behavior is exhibited, and therefore little opportunity to create a direct cognitive connection between the ineffective behavior, the immediate task at hand, and the response of the self-regulation training. This lack of a direct cognitive connection results in a waste of a true teachable opportunity.
Technologies known in the biofeedback art include methods for improving attention skill by rewarding specific brain signal patterns with desirable results such as success at playing a video game or altering the characteristics of the display of a video feed in a desirable manner. In one representation, the player or viewer is required to exhibit the required brain signal patterns that accompany normal cognition or behavior in order to win the video game or alter a simple computer animation desirably, as opposed to exhibiting cognitive states and behavior consistent with someone suffering from ADD or ADHD. Once the player or viewer exhibits the required brain signal patterns, the video game or computer generated animation becomes easier to play or advances or the viewer is rewarded with some type of visual or auditory reinforcement primary to the biofeedback training and not related to the external environment. A measurement system senses the EEG signals from the player and routes them to the computer where the video game difficulty is computed or the video feed characteristics are determined, therefore varying the difficulty of the video game or view-ability of the video feed.
The known technologies that use video feeds such as DVD movies have the disadvantage of requiring extensive equipment, typically requiring a personal computer (PC) that is interfaced with video playback systems such as PC media players or external DVI) players and that feed the brain-activity-mediated signal to the PC screen or a television display. This requirement of a PC causes significant compatibility problems in an end user setup, often due to the varied versions and types of audio and video Coders/Decoders (CODECS) present on such systems. A PC mediated system also complicates the use of the training system for end users, and especially for the elderly. All known biofeedback and/or neurofeedback systems involve an active feedback mechanism that requires the user to actively engage in a specific process focusing on a computer or machine or other unnatural stimuli to receive biofeedback and/or neurofeedback. This is problematic because the user is required to engage in an activity he might otherwise not do in his daily life which makes it more difficult for the biofeedback benefits to transfer into daily life. There are individuals with extreme cognitive disorders such as post-concussion syndrome, or with congenital disorders, who are not able to receive the benefits of biofeedback because of their inability to focus on or understand a particular task or specific stimuli for any period of time. Paying attention to a computer display of a brain activity graph or animation for 15 to 30 minutes is beyond the scope of these individuals' ability and understanding.
The biofeedback systems and methods described in the art do not allow the user to receive biofeedback while doing normal daily activities, or are not effective for those with extreme cognitive disorders. In contrast, the present invention enables a user to receive biofeedback while interacting in daily activities like watching television, reading a book, or during a sports activity, by using the wearable device to create a changeable representation of the perceived environment based on physiologic activity to reinforce positive physiologic changes. For example, while engaged in a normal activity, the wearable device can create a visual or auditory feedback overlay reducing vision and/or hearing, impairing the individual's ability to interact with the task at hand.
In summary, the shortfalls of biofeedback in practice and prior art include utilization of a feedback/reinforcement mechanism to change physiology that is not directly representative of the user's actual environment and/or that are beyond the ability of severely impaired individuals. Traditional methods rely on visual and auditory representation of physiology through a computer or machine and reinforcement of the signal. The process of training is directed to the training activity itself in the hope that the reinforced changes transfer to the day-to-day environment. On the other hand, in the present invention, the process of training is directed to activities that occur in the day-to-day environment, rather than to the training activity itself.